Mount Gambier forestry consultant Jerry Leech has backed calls for the production of biomass electricity in the region following a push by prominent businessman Adrian de Bruin. Source: The Border Watch
Dr Leech came out in support for the renewable energy source after De Bruin told The Border Watch biomass electricity would boost the region’s ailing forestry industry and local economy.
De Bruin – who sold his share in the timber giant Auspine back in 2008 – said the opportunity to produce biomass energy was enormous, with a large supply of wood fibre available in the region.
He said a 60 megawatt plant, which would need 600,000 tonnes of wood fibre to run, would serve the ongoing energy demands in the region at a constant rate.
Dr Leech agreed that a biomass plant could service the region’s energy needs while helping to revive the forestry sector.
He said a biomass plant would eradicate waste by turning the wood fibre into pellets, which would then be used to generate electricity.
“If you have a plant that creates pellets, those pellets could go out either overseas from Portland or be used internally,” Dr Leech said.
Dr Leech said there were a number of potential locations for the plant but agreed with De Bruin that a sawmill would be ideal.
“The logical spot is a sawmill and in 1959 we already had the state mill feeding power back into the grid,” he said.
“It had five furnaces and used the heat generated by the plant for the kilns to dry the timber.”
Meanwhile, prominent Nangwarry forestry advocate Vic Smith has also voiced his support for a biomass plant in the South East.
Smith said Nangwarry should be considered as a location for such an industry.
Basing his argument on Nangwarry’s central location to pine and bluegum plantations, Smith – who is the Nangwary Forestry and Logging Museum secretary – said he would like the town’s Carter Holt Harvey mill site to be transformed into a biomass plant.
“It’s just a waste of a site at the moment and there is a lot of the equipment and machinery already there that could be used for a biomass plant,” he said.
“We’re right in the middle of the forestry here in Nangwarry so the material would not have to be transported very far to be processed, and the main highway provides easy access for trucks.”
Based on what he has seen during his 30 years in the South East forestry industry, Smith believes the region has great potential for a profitable biomass plant.
“There is so much waste in the forestry industry and I hate seeing all the scraps pushed into heaps and burnt off each year – it’s a complete waste of fuel,” he said.
“A biomass plant is a fantastic idea and I hope it goes ahead, no matter where in the South East it is located.
“We desperately need some sort of new innovative industry in the South East to compensate for the millions of dollars of annual income lost as a result of the sale of the pines.”
While Smith is passionate about the idea’s flow-on effects such as boosting employment opportunities and population in towns such as Nangwarry, Tarpeena and Kalangadoo that are suffering.
“Without another big industry like the forestry, our town will turn into a retirement village,” he said. “A biomass plant could be a lifesaver for this area.”
